


Streaks of Gray

by wisegirl32



Series: Streaks of Gray and Other Losses [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), F/M, Flashbacks, Grover (Percy Jackson) is a Good Friend, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Annabeth, Light Angst, My First One Piece Fic, One Shot, Percy Jackson is missing, Piper McLean is a Good Friend, Post-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus), Pre-The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus), annabeth chase needs a hug, percabeth, so sorry we don't hear from him, the Grover and Annabeth friendship moment we deserve, we needed more Grover in HoO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28984815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisegirl32/pseuds/wisegirl32
Summary: A symbolic bond. That and her memories were all she had of him, and she suspected Percy didn’t even have that much.Or, the moment when Annabeth discovers she lost the gray streak she got while holding the sky, and realizes Percy probably did too.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Grover Underwood, Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood, Annabeth Chase & Piper McLean, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood
Series: Streaks of Gray and Other Losses [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189421
Comments: 4
Kudos: 51





	Streaks of Gray

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction using characters from the world of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus series, which are trademarked by Rick Riordan. I do not own these characters or this world; they were created by Rick Riordan. 
> 
> This is my first time publishing a piece, so please let me know what you think!! I love these characters and I hope that this piece does them justice!!

It had been months since Annabeth had dreamed of the mountain. 

She had so many nightmarish moments to choose from, so her subconscious’s usual choice to stay away from those memories didn’t exactly alarm her. She always thought it said something about her childhood that her abduction when she was fourteen didn’t even rank in the top moments worthy of appearance in her nightmares. 

But suddenly, she was back. The goddess who had taken her place struggled under the weight of the sky. The two demigods who protected her when she first ran away were at each other’s throats. The Titan Atlas battled one of the Hunters, who Annabeth would later learn was his own daughter. And Percy was running to take the burden from Artemis. 

That was where she had focused for much of the remaining battle. It was even more true, now, in a dream, as she relived it years later. Thalia could take care of herself. So could the Hunter’s Lieutenant, now that Artemis had joined the fight at her side. But she, too, had held the weight of the sky, and it had nearly killed her. It was the one of the reasons she was embarrassingly little help in the battle on Mount Tam, though she was also tied up for most of it. 

Now, Percy had shouldered the same burden, though for much more heroic reasons. She had just wanted to save Luke, had fallen right into his trap. She chided herself for months after that winter for being so foolish, before other concerns entered the forefront of her mind. 

All she could do was watch, however, as Percy almost crumpled under Atlas’s burden. Her own stint under the sky made her incapable of any major exertion, and she knew exactly what he was feeling. Her muscles felt like they were burning even as she lay in bed, a feeling which jolted her awake just as she reached towards the piece of her hair that turned gray under the stress. 

She hadn’t noticed their streaks of gray hair until they were on Mount Olympus. Thalia was joining the Hunters as their new Lieutenant, another person who felt like family leaving her behind. Her mother had beat her to talking to Percy, but when she realized they each had a streak of gray hair towards the front of their faces, she felt like she had gained a connection as well. She took comfort in that fact in the times when it felt like the world was crumbling around her.  
________________________

Annabeth was never lucky enough to see anything remotely comforting in her nightmare, however. As she woke up, her thoughts naturally turned to questioning why she would dream about that day now. The one advantage to her nightmares was how they could give her new information that could provide her with a strategic advantage. 

Jason had been there, she thought immediately. The Roman demigods had apparently fought the other Titans while they fought in Manhattan, each army none the wiser to the other’s existence or their losses. The location of the Roman Camp– Camp Jupiter, Jason had called it– was apparently located close to Mount Tam, though Jason still wasn’t sure exactly where. That had likely been another reason Annabeth was told San Francisco wasn’t safe for demigods.

But why couldn’t she have seen a vision of the present? A vision of Percy as he looked today, to prove that he was at least alive? She didn’t trust Hera for one second, and besides, Hera had been largely incapacitated until Jason, Piper and Leo rescued her a few weeks ago. What if something had happened to him while Hera had been imprisoned, when she had stolen him and his memories and failed to protect him?

No, Annabeth thought, pushing a rush of fear back into her stomach. She would know– someone would know– if something happened to him. At the very least, he had to be one of the seven in the Great Prophecy, though nothing in the Oracle’s phrasing would confirm that, either. Otherwise, why would Hera send him away? For better or worse, it was no longer as obvious that he was the subject of the prophecy, but Annabeth refused to believe that Hera’s little exchange program would be for nothing. If it had, she would march up to Olympus herself, and probably get herself cursed again in the process.

Annabeth threw on a sweatshirt she had stolen from Percy that summer as she thought about what to do. The sun was starting to peek through the strategically placed windows in Cabin Six, but it was still too early to pretend that she had simply woken up after a full night of sleep. Not that she was convincing people of that, anyway. She felt tempted for a moment to head down to the beach, but she shook her head as she cautioned herself against it. It would take her back to his last birthday, to an underwater bubble, to the aftermath of an earlier prophecy’s fulfillment. 

She considered going for a walk when she caught a glimpse of her reflection in a shield hanging from one of her siblings bunks. Besides what had become the usual look for her since Percy disappeared (dark circles under her eyes, curly strands of hair falling out of her ponytail,) her eyes were drawn to the piece of hair she had absentmindedly been twirling: her own streak of gray. Except it didn’t look gray anymore.

She sprinted out to the bathrooms, her shoes still untied, hoping that it was just a trick of the light. The mirrors where she could actually see properly would surely confirm it was still there. She dug through the contents of her ponytail, praying she was just twisting the wrong piece, but every strand was suddenly the same, monotonous blond. 

The gray was gone. Annabeth shuddered at what that could mean. She had always thought of their matching gray streaks a reminder of her and Percy’s many shared experiences, which extended far past each of their turns holding the sky. Annabeth had trained for worse situations than this. But with everything else that had just been compounding since his disappearance, this seemingly inconsequential loss felt like a punch in the gut. 

When he bathed in the Styx, it had stayed. If anything, as Percy eventually told her, that particular experience had made their bond seem even stronger. She had sensed what he later told her was his one weak point, had saved him when she took that knife on the Williamsburg Bridge.

She sat back down on her bunk, all desire to take a walk knocked out of her. Soon she would not be able to avoid anyone as the rest of camp woke up to resume their activities, but for now she pulled the hood of Percy’s sweatshirt up and pulled a book off her shelf. Reading was a struggle for her like any half-blood, especially when she was upset, but she needed a distraction and her books were available.

Annabeth figured she had approximately half an hour before her daily check in from one of the others, as a visit from another head counselor had become a daily occurrence in recent weeks. She knew that they had started taking volunteers at Piper’s insistence, as if “Check on Annabeth” was one of the assigned responsibilities the head counselors rotated between. The Stoll’s probably had a betting pool going of when she would pull her dagger on her assigned babysitter (and she had come close on the day it happened to be Leo’s turn), but so far Annabeth had kept things restrained, if not completely under control. 

Fortunately, it was Grover Underwood (one of the only others at camp who felt the depth of what she was going through) that poked his head into the doorway of Cabin Six thirty minutes later. Unfortunately for Grover, the schedule meant that he would be the one to witness the aftermath of her realization. That wouldn’t be the worst thing, she thought. Grover had known Annabeth since she was a child, which was probably best as she was behaving like one right now.

“It’s gone,” Annabeth whispered almost as soon as he stepped into the cabin. 

“What?!? What’s gone?! Oh.” Grover whispered, quickly putting things together when she pulled off the hood and he came closer. He had been on the quest to rescue her and Lady Artemis all those years ago. He felt when one of his best friends, and later realized another had held the weight of the sky. 

Still, a part of Annabeth wished she was alone right now. It always bothered her that Grover, like any satyr, was capable of reading her emotions. She suspected that he knew what she was feeling and why before she did sometimes. Not that Annabeth was exactly praised for her ability to process her own emotions.

“What are you doing here, Grover?” Annabeth asked dejectedly, knowing that he would try to cover up the fact that he was likely ordered to check on her.

“Asking my oldest friend to come to breakfast with me.” So he’s trying to ensure that I eat. Then, probably to confirm he knew what she was thinking, “Percy’s not the only one whose emotions I can read.”

Of course. Grover had lost a connection with Percy, too. When Percy had first disappeared, Grover had tried for days to use his empathy link to locate him, to no avail. Once Jason had arrived and more pieces of Percy’s disappearance had come together, they concluded that Hera was likely blocking the empathy link. She initially hoped that the fact that Grover was still alive at least meant that the same was true for Percy, but applying that same logic to herself meant that he likely lost his streak as well. That, of course, was a much smaller problem, but she still felt its sting as she dragged herself out of bed and headed towards the dining pavilion.  
________________________

Piper and Jason walked hand-in-hand from the dining pavilion, about to begin today’s round of cabin inspections. Annabeth instinctively bit her tongue as she turned and continued walking with Grover in that direction.

It wasn’t fair, she thought whenever she saw them together: sitting at the campfire, having picnics by the beach, practicing in the arena where she and Percy would spar both verbally and physically. Percy had led a demigod army, just like Jason. Hades, that was part of the reason Hera had taken him from her. But Jason was safe, with his girlfriend and returning memories, and Percy was still gone.

And what if he had found a new happy ending without her? As Jason’s memories came back, he confirmed that there wasn’t any girlfriend waiting for him among the Romans, but she didn’t know if Percy would remember her before he realized that he did have one, that she was looking for him. Girls had always liked him, even when he was oblivious to it.

She didn’t know if she could lose him again. She knew she should be thinking about bigger issues than that: of the ship Leo was working to build, of the fact that the next Great Prophecy was coming to pass, of the fact that she would spend this upcoming summer saving the world again. 

But she had spent years thinking Percy was going to die. There were two weeks where she thought he had died, only for him to waltz in on them burning his shroud as if nothing had happened. She saw his death even when she didn’t see him everyday, his sea green eyes working their way into the nightmares she'd had ever since she first heard the first Great Prophecy. Then, when he had lived to see sixteen, when she finally let herself get comfortable, the gods had ripped him away from her. And now they were taking her reminders of him, too.  
________________________

Grover didn’t say another word about what he sensed she was feeling as they walked, which Annabeth appreciated. 

Since Grover was a satyr, he was able to sit at the table of any cabin, so he settled across from Annabeth at the table for Cabin Six. Besides, even if he technically wasn’t supposed to, it’s not like she hadn’t broken that rule before. 

She grabbed a chocolate chip muffin to pick at when a nymph strolled by with a breakfast tray. She quickly freed the muffin from its paper liner, handing the latter to Grover. The rest of her siblings were at the stables for their Pegasi lessons, but Annabeth had been granted some flexibility with her normal responsibilities to allow her to devote herself to the search for Percy. 

“So…” Grover hesitatingly tried to fill the silence that had developed as they ate.

“If you wanted conversation, you should have asked Juniper to join you.” Annabeth spat out.

Grover did not seem to be in the mood for verbal sparring. He reached for an apple, swallowing it whole as Annabeth stared off towards the beach. 

He swallowed another apple whole by the time Annabeth decided to stop picking at her muffin.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

No, Annabeth thought to herself, fidgeting with the same familiar strand of hair again. She hated the way that habit made her look, like a stereotypical teenage girl from some cheesy movie. She dropped her hand onto the table, earning herself a sympathetic look from Grover once she realized what she was doing.

Hera had always hated her, but was this really a necessary part of stealing Percy’s memories? Taking the only physical connection with Percy she felt she had left? Hera had taken their present, their future by dragging them into yet another quest. Would she really take one of the few reminders of the good things about Annabeth’s past as well?

She always thought of the streak as a symbol of their connection. A symbolic bond. That and her memories were all she had of him, and Percy probably didn’t even have that much right now. She should have known not to assume it would be permanent. She had foolishly thought it would be, always secretly hoped that it would blend in with the inevitable others as they grew old. That they could grow old together. 

Her near-weekly visits with Sally to update her on the search for her son reassured her that that dream may still be possible someday, but she visited them yesterday, so Annabeth resolved to not bother them again for another week. Yesterday’s visit was the first since they had established a concrete plan to locate the Roman camp, so Annabeth could share more news than she had since Jason, Piper and Leo first returned a few weeks earlier.

There were only a few people whom Annabeth believed missed Percy as much as she did. Sally and Paul were two of them. The other was sitting in front of her.

“Sorry, Grover,” Annabeth sighed. 

“Don’t worry about me,” Grover bleated nervously. “I can read your emotions, but I’m also feeling many of the same things myself.”

Annabeth stared at Grover, who in turn looked like he was analyzing her expression. 

“We’ll find him. We know more now than we did when he first disappeared. We’ll keep learning more.” Grover spoke as if willing these facts into existence.

“It’s not just that.” Grover raised his eyebrows. “Okay, it’s mostly that.” Annabeth admitted. While she still hadn’t explained much about her earlier realization aloud, and Grover had figured much of it out on his own, she found it pouring out of her now. 

“I feel like part of me should be grateful. It’s not like I want to wake up everyday and remember that I held the sky, or why I took its burden in the first place.” Grover sighed as she added that remark. He knew the reason, and everything that transpired since that would make her want to forget it. 

“Besides,” she continued, “if Percy lost his memories, and they come back in pieces like Jason’s have been, I wouldn’t want his holding the sky to be the first thing that comes back to him because of it.”

“That makes sense,” Grover reasoned. “Look, I know I can’t give you any certainty about Percy like I might usually be able to. But I really am confident that we’ll find him, you’ll all defeat Gaea, and then we can put this whole mess behind us.”

“That’s what we said last summer,” Annabeth complained, but a teasing smile returned to her face, if only at the ridiculousness of that thought. 

“And every summer since Percy first showed up,” Grover laughed, trying to elbow her in the side from across the table. “It’s bound to happen eventually.”

When they stood up to return to their separate tasks, Annabeth wrapped her arms around Grover. As much as she hated admitting when she couldn’t handle things herself, she was grateful he was the one to check in on her that day. He had been busy with his responsibilities as Lord of the Wild after the Battle of Manhattan, and she had felt his absence even more deeply when Percy first disappeared. Now, they were working towards a common goal again; it was like Annabeth’s first journey to Half-Blood Hill and all of their quests since. 

She ran back to her bunk with just enough time to shove a blanket over her bed before her cabin inspection. She sat on her bunk and had just opened Daedalus’s laptop when Piper knocked on the cabin doorframe. She figured that Jason was standing outside, likely at Piper’s behest. 

Piper was brilliant like that, being able to anticipate other’s emotions and use her knowledge to avoid sparking potential outbursts. Although, it wouldn’t take a genius to realize that Annabeth probably didn’t want to witness Jason, who just happened to be Hera’s replacement for Percy to show up at Camp Half-Blood, happily spending time with his girlfriend. Not that any of that was Jason’s fault. If anything he was too understanding about the whole situation. That’s how it seemed to Annabeth, at least.

“I’m not in the mood to be charmspoken, Piper.”

“It wouldn’t work anyway, since you’re actively working against it,” Piper teased. “Not that I’m going to try,” she reassured her as Piper began to look around.

While not as perfectly decorated as the Aphrodite cabin, Athena kids didn’t usually do the worst at cabin inspections. Annabeth’s own desk was surprisingly empty, as she had commandeered a room in the Big House to coordinate the search for Percy and Camp Jupiter– in that order, if Annabeth had her way. Before long, Piper returned to her side, taking a seat next to Annabeth.

“I know that I don’t understand what you’re going through,” Piper prefaced. She was right. It was weird for Annabeth to think about how to her and the other new campers, Percy was a concept more so than a person, almost as unfamiliar as the classical Greek heroes. “But I could use your help with something, so I have a request.”

“What is it?” Annabeth asked, closing her laptop a bit too suddenly. She slumped back in her bunk at the sound.

“That you consider sparring with me tomorrow. I know I’m not your usual partner,” Piper quickly added, not mentioning Percy’s name, “but you’ve been fighting with a dagger for years, and I’d much rather train with you than one of the Ares kids.” She took a breath before deciding not to say more. “Just consider it, okay?”

Annabeth knew enough to realize Piper was giving her an out. Or rather, a way back in. She hadn’t trained as much as she should have in the weeks since Percy disappeared, despite how sparring was one of the only activities that took her mind off of her other obsessions. She would need to keep her strength up if she was going to pull her own weight on the quest.

If anything, she owed it to their efforts to try to get to know the other demigods she would be sailing with. It would be difficult enough to convince the Romans they were on their side, even with Hera’s little stunt; they couldn’t afford to present anything other than a united front. The least she could do was push her hubris aside and make sure they were as prepared as they could be for the journey ahead. 

Like it or not, she had another role to play in yet another prophecy. Tomorrow seemed as good a time to start as any. She wouldn’t let this setback get the best of her. She wouldn’t be that scared little girl who had run away from home, even as the future currently felt less certain than ever. 

She would train, she would fight, and she would come up with a plan. Too many people were counting on her. Percy was counting on her, even if he didn’t remember her. This quest would be her dip in the Styx. If she had realized anything in the past few weeks, it’s that Percy was her lifeline, too. And she would make damn sure that they came out of this challenge stronger than they were.  
________________________

The next morning, Annabeth strapped her knife to her arm as she prepared to meet Piper. She pulled her hair up before heading to the arena, her eyes instinctively falling to a piece she had so often played with. It could still serve as a reminder, if only to her, of all she had survived, and of everything she had to fight for.

She kept it displayed, left it free from the rest of her ponytail as she threw on her jacket. Piper poked her head in the cabin door, and they each sprinted to the arena under cloudy skies. At least for now, she didn't have to bear the weight of the world alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! I love these characters and I really enjoyed writing this; please feel free to let me know what you think!!


End file.
